Palm Beach County emergency director stresses hurricane preparedness

Although the National Hurricane Center is getting better at predicting the course of storms, emergency managers in Palm Beach County continue to caution that even though certain areas might not be "in the cone," the public must stay vigilant and prepared.

Bill Johnson, the county's emergency management director, said his recurring challenge is convincing residents they must prepare for hurricanes well in advance and to evacuate before the storm is already upon them.

"I worry about that," he said. "Those are some of the things that keep me up at night."

When Isaac flooded parts of Loxahatchee and The Acreage in 2012, some people were stranded in their homes-turned-islands. Nonprofit organizations brought food and firefighters delivered meals to their doors.

In a bigger storm, Johnson said, meal delivery would be a lower priority.

"We have falsely set the bar so high," he said. "If we ever saw Andrew ..."

In a sleek auditorium like a NASA control room, emergency management leaders gathered Tuesday in the county's Emergency Operations Center to brief the media on their disaster communication plans.

One slide in Johnson's presentation showed pictures of TV news reporters standing in floodwater or getting blasted sideways in the wind. He feared these newscasts suggest it's safe to stay put.

Rick Knabb, the director of the National Hurricane Center, said his Miami-based federal agency is getting better at predicting the course of storms, but intensity projections still puzzle meteorologists.

"We all know that there were impacts last year in Palm Beach County," even though Tropical Storm Isaac swooped south of Florida before becoming a hurricane, Knabb said.

While the cone of uncertainty is getting smaller, the danger isn't isolated inside the margin of error. He said his office still fights misconceptions about hurricanes. People focus on wind too much and underestimate the water hazards, he said.

In Louisiana during Hurricane Isaac, rescuers recovered bodies floating in their homes.

"At least in a couple of cases, those people aren't around anymore to tell you what their mindset was because they didn't evacuate," Knabb said.